Chainlink Labs, Cardano Foundation, and Four Other Blockchain Companies Approached SEC over Cryptocurrencies Status

• Crypto companies are calling for the status of digital commodities to be codified in SEC rules.
• Six of them — Chainlink, Hedera, Aptos, Ava, Stellar, and Cardano — sent a letter to the regulator with that call.
• Ripple also backed the initiative and explained which rules the SEC should approve.

Six blockchain companies — Chainlink Labs, Hedera Hashgraph, Aptos Labs, Ava Labs, Stellar Development Foundation, and Cardano Foundation — urged the U.S. SEC to codify the status of digital commodities directly in the Regulation Crypto Assets rules. This was reported by Chainlink’s head of policy, Taylor Barr.

In a joint submission dated October 20, 2026, they proposed four changes aimed at reducing legal uncertainty for the crypto industry, including around token classification and secondary-market trading.

Companies Call for Digital Commodity Status to Be Codified in SEC Rules

In the submission, the companies backed the clarifications issued by the SEC and the CFTC on March 17, 2026, regarding the classification of crypto assets. In the document, the regulators defined five categories of digital assets, including digital commodities, digital collectible assets, digital instruments, stablecoins, and digital securities.

“Builders need lasting certainty. Codifying this progress would be a meaningful step toward keeping America the home of digital asset innovation,” Barr said.

The letter’s authors emphasized that the definition of a digital commodity and its status as an asset that is not a security are currently mentioned in the explanatory section of Regulation Crypto Assets, but are not закреплені directly in the rule’s text. The companies are asking to add the relevant provisions to the regulatory document.

Under the proposed definition, a digital commodity is a cryptoasset whose value is tied to the operation of a functional crypto system and to supply and demand, rather than to an expectation of profit from the managerial efforts of others. The companies also propose stating explicitly that a digital commodity is not a security even when it is connected to an investment contract.

The tokens LINK, HBAR, APT, AVAX, XLM, and ADA were already classified as digital commodities in the SEC and CFTC’s March guidance. As a result, the companies want to закреплені in the regulatory text the classification that regulators have already made public.

What Other Changes Blockchain Companies Are Proposing

In addition to codifying the definition of a digital commodity, the authors of the submission proposed three more changes to Regulation Crypto Assets for the SEC:

• Establish a presumption for the secondary market: the companies propose assuming that the sale of a digital commodity on the secondary market by a person who is not the issuer does not, by default, involve an investment contract, provided the issuer’s promises of material managerial efforts are no longer in effect. They also urge providing a class exemption from certain requirements for transactions in digital commodities already designated by the regulator, without filing Form TR
• Confirm the voluntary nature of the safe harbor mechanism: use of the Rule 400 mechanism contemplated by the proposal, including filing Form TR, should not be treated as an admission that the cryptoasset was, or is, subject to an investment contract. Opting out of this mechanism should also not automatically create such a presumption
• Confirm regulatory continuity: the companies ask the SEC to state that the final Regulation Crypto Assets rules do not change the classifications established in the March guidance and do not reallocate authority between the SEC and the CFTC

The SEC presented the draft Regulation Crypto Assets in August 2026. It is intended to define the rules for offering and selling cryptoassets, including in situations where a token is not a security on its own but is connected to an investment contract. At the time the submission was filed, the document remained a draft set of regulatory amendments.

Separately, Ripple Labs also supported the proposed rules and urged the SEC to finalize them. The company noted that the initiative is grounded in existing law and legal principles shaped by case law in the Howey case. The company highlighted three core provisions of the proposed framework:

• An investment contract does not turn a crypto asset into a security. According to Ripple Labs’ position, the security is the investment contract itself, not necessarily the token it relates to
• Investment obligations can end. A crypto asset should not remain indefinitely tied to an investment contract if the relevant obligations have ceased
• The existence of an investment contract depends on the issuer’s promises. To determine its existence and termination, you need to consider the issuer’s statements and obligations, not just the market’s general perception of decentralization

Recall that recently the SEC also prepared a proposal on rules for the custodial storage of crypto assets, and the SEC prepared a proposal on rules for the custodial storage of crypto assets.

Сообщение Chainlink Labs, Cardano Foundation, and Four Other Blockchain Companies Approached SEC over Cryptocurrencies Status появились сначала на INCRYPTED.